Jahvon Quinerly, an ESPN Top 25 recruit, is back on the market. Quinerly announced last night that he will not attend the University Arizona, as they continue to be a part of an ongoing FBI investigation. Arizona’s highest rated commitment in the class of 2017, according to ESPN, he announced his decision last night via his Twitter account.

Quinerly was linked to the bribery scandal currently that is shadowing over college basketball right now. Federal documents revealed that former Arizona assistant ‘Book’ Richardson, who was arrested last month, arranged a $15,000 bribe for a player who committed to U of A around August 9th. Quinerly pledged his allegiance to the Cats on August 8th.

For now, Sean Miller still holds commitments from Shareef O’Neal and Brandon Williams in the 2018 class. However, it’s hard to deny that Arizona, like Louisville, is now feeling the effects of being tied up in this FBI investigation. As Evan Daniels notes below, the investigation has now impacted the recruitment of 17 players, most of which are elite level talent.

By my count the FBI Investigation has dramatically impacted the recruitment of at least 17 players.

For Quinerly, he will once again find a lot of teams fighting to land his services. This summer, he chose Arizona over top programs such as Kansas, Virginia and Villanova, among others. If Quinerly is directly linked to this investigation it could have a huge impact on his recruitment. The last recruit Arizona lost as a result of this scandal wound up at North Carolina. Don’t be surprised if Quinerly joins the ACC himself and commits to Tony Bennett and Virginia.

We know this investigation is going to go on forever. It will change a lot of programs; In fact, it already has at Louisville. While Arizona is different from Louisville in that there are no direct ties to their head coach, they are suffering in the recruiting game all the same. Louisville lost three Top 100 recruits. Will the Wildcats have the same fate?

Last evening, Nasir Little, a Top 15 recruit in the Class of 2018, committed to the University of North Carolina. A top recruit committing to a college basketball blue blood is nothing new. However, Little’s commitment holds a little more significance given the cloud hanging over the college basketball world. Little chose North Carolina over numerous schools. Included in this group was Miami and Arizona, two programs who recently grabbed headlines for roles in a NCAA corruption scandal.

By now most everyone knows that former Arizona assistant “Book” Richardson was one of 10 people arrested in the NCAA bribery scandal. Shortly after, Miami was informed they were under investigation for the same potential issues with a certain recruit. The recruit in question was said to be Nasir Little. A report filed stating that a “University-7,” was trying to give $150,000 to an unknown player in the Class of 2018. University-7 was described as a private research university in Florida with approximately 16,000 students and over 2,600 faculty members, The same report also mentioned that a “University-4, was already promising the recruit money. Little was the only player being recruited by both schools.

Nasir Little is not the first, nor the last to be involved in this scandal

Days after the reports surfaced, Little removed both Miami and Arizona from consideration, opening the door for the Tar Heels. While Little is not the only player to be brought up in these allegations, his swing in recruitment symbolizes a trend that is sure to happen in college hoops. Miami and Arizona were the favorites to land Little’s services, in part for the reason above. Amid controversy however, Little removed himself from the picture, hoping to avoid the same mess Brian Bowen finds himself in currently.

The question in recruiting has changed. Views on coaches and programs are going to change based on the reports that surface from this investigation. As more schools step into the limelight, the recruiting landscape broadens. Schools that once competed for the top recruits will now be in the mix for less and less. While Miami expects full exoneration, they already saw multiple recruits withdraw consideration just for association. Louisville has also lost their top recruits in 2018 because of the scandal. This opens the door for those schools dubbed “clean” to bring in top classes.

College basketball recruiting is going to be different. That’s the purpose of this investigation. The programs that lost out on McDonald’s All-Americans for playing by the rules now look like prestige institutions. And while every “dirty” program may not get caught, they will come off cleaner than those that get exposed. Thus far, Miami, Louisville and Arizona have been reported. Assistants from Oklahoma State, Auburn and USC were also arrested initially. Those schools have a little bit more to worry about at the moment than recrutiing, but last night’s commitment marked a change in tide.